U.S. Army Is Discharging Immigrant Recruits Who Were Promised Citizenship

This photo provided to the AP by Panshu Zhao shows Zhao in uniform on Feb. 11, at a U.S. Army Reserve installation in Houston. Zhao is one of dozens of immigrant military recruits and reservists who have been waiting for years to deploy but were recently discharged with little explanatio

AP

Panshu Zhao moved to the U.S. from China about eight years ago to study. It was the culmination of a lifelong dream.

Since then, he has completed a graduate degree and is now pursuing a doctorate in geography at Texas A&M University. In describing his life to NPR’s Steve Inskeep on Friday, he divided it into two parts: his life in China and his American life.

The latter includes regular attendance at a Christian church and a deep respect for the military. So deep, in fact, that in 2016 he enlisted and has been serving in the Army Reserve while awaiting orders for full-time training.